Victoria Stanton and the Art of Transaction

Artist Residency – Praxis Art Actuel

Praxis Art Actuel in Ste-Thérèse, QC has invited me to carry out a month-long research and creation residence.

Working from the same model as This City, My Love (carried out in Saint John, NB), for Praxis, this time titled, Dépôt de mémoire (A Human Encounters Map), the project is headquartered in the local municipal library. With the library as initial meeting place and eventual repository (and as such becoming the library’s ‘artist-in-residence,’) once again, this mobile, one-on-one performative transaction, an in situ/in socius project, invites any willing citizen of Ste-Thérèse to introduce me to their personal sites of interest: the site can stir up a detailed memory or instill a momentary serenity. The work continues from my previous geopoetic meanderings (Roadside Attractions), one-on-one encounters (Stuff, the Cake Feeding series and Quiet Time at the Intersection Of –) and recent residencies at the 3e impérial in Granby, QC (FatherWork – MonTravail) and FRONDA (in Real del Monte, Mexico). Combining elements of all these, (exploring place/non-places, sharing stories, practicing empathetic and compassionate presence) I will proceed with my current interest in “alternative map-making” – this time grounded in the very exchanges that will transpire with local folks from Ste-Thérèse. Collaboratively, we will create another kind of investigation and perspective of place: experimenting unconventional ways of experiencing a city and being together in a process that produces a “dépôt de mémoire” (a memory repository) – and a rather extra-ordinary – view on Ste-Thérèse. A final publication will be produced from the resulting encounters and be available in the library’s collection.